AEW May Promote “UK-Friendly” Pay-Per-Views

Following on from AEW signing an exciting deal with ITV Sport to bring Double Or Nothing to ITV Box Office and pre-show BUY-IN to ITV4, the promotion’s CEO Tony Khan sat down with ITV studios to discuss the relationship.

Khan discussed several long-term plans that hinted at the AEW/ITV relationship being more than a one-off, one-show deal. While nothing is official at this point, speculation certainly points to AEW and ITV working together again in the future, be it for future PPV events or perhaps even airing the newly announce AEW television show.

Of particular interest in the interview were Khan’s comments that AEW would be considering the possibility of doing pay-per-view events in the future that were more UK-friendly.

Currently UK fans have to tune in at between around midnight and 4/5 a.m. for WWE PPV events and indeed for Double Or Nothing. Khan says that could change in the future, with one idea discussed being for AEW to run some PPV shows at 8 p.m. in the UK, which would be 3 p.m. on the US East Coast and noon on the West Coast.

That tells you quite a lot about how AEW perceive the value of the UK market to their brand. If the promotion is willing to accommodate UK fans in such a manner (which WWE never has, even with the Network making it so much easier to do so) it will certainly to a long way to “babyfacing” them (to wrestling terminology) in the eyes of wrestling fans across the country.